13,572 research outputs found
Gestational psittacosis in a Montana sheep rancher.
In humans, psittacosis is primarily a flulike illness following exposure to psittacine birds. In rare cases, pregnant women exposed to Chlamydia psittaci can contract gestational psittacosis: atypical pneumonia, sepsis, and placental insufficiency resulting in premature birth or miscarriage. In the United States, only two cases of gestational psittacosis have been reported, both from exposure to psittacine birds. Eleven other cases have been reported worldwide, mostly in the United Kingdom, all from exposure to infected birth fluids and membranes of farm mammals, notably sheep and goats. In these mammals, C. psittaci inhabit the reproductive tract, are transmitted sexually or by the fecal-oral route, and cause miscarriages. The case of gestational psittacosis in a Montana sheep rancher is the first farm animal-related case reported in the United States. Pregnant women should avoid close contact with C. psittaci-infected animals, particularly sheep and goats during the birthing season. Obstetricians should consider this diagnosis along with early antibiotic treatment and cesarean section delivery in the context of the patient's case history
The Possible z=0.83 Precursors of z=0 M* Early-type Cluster Galaxies
We examine the distribution of stellar masses of galaxies in MS 1054-03 and
RX J0152.7-1357, two X-ray selected clusters of galaxies at z=0.83. Our stellar
mass estimates, from spectral energy distribution fitting, reproduce the
dynamical masses as measured from velocity dispersions and half-light radii
with a scatter of 0.2 dex in the mass for early-type galaxies. When we restrict
our sample of members to high stellar masses, > 1e11.1 Msun (M* in the
Schechter mass function for cluster galaxies), we find that the fraction of
early-type galaxies is 79 +/- 6% at z=0.83 and 87 +/- 6% at z=0.023 for the
Coma cluster, consistent with no evolution. Previous work with
luminosity-selected samples finds that the early-type fraction in rich clusters
declines from =~80% at z=0 to =~60% at z=0.8. The observed evolution in the
early-type fraction from luminosity-selected samples must predominately occur
among sub-M* galaxies. As M* for field and group galaxies, especially
late-types, is below M* for clusters galaxies, infall could explain most of the
recent early-type fraction growth. Future surveys could determine the
morphological distributions of lower mass systems which will confirm or refute
this explanation.Comment: 5 pages in emulate ApJ format with three color figures. Accepted for
publication in ApJ Letters, v642n2. Updated to correct grammatical and
typographic errors found by the journa
The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec Cluster Survey. II. Constraints on Large-Scale Streaming
The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec (LP10K) Tully-Fisher (TF) data set is used to
test for bulk streaming motions on a ~150 Mpc scale. The sample consists of 172
cluster galaxies in the original target range of the survey, 9000-13,000
km/sec, plus an additional 72 galaxies with cz < 30,000 km/sec. A
maximum-likelihood analysis that is insensitive to Malmquist and selection bias
effects is used to constrain the bulk velocity parameters, and realistic
Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out to correct residual biases and
determine statistical errors. When the analysis is restricted to the original
target range, the bias-corrected bulk flow is v_B=720 +/- 280 km/sec toward
l=266, b=19. When all objects out to z=0.1 are included the result is virtually
unchanged, v_B=700 +/- 250 km/sec toward l=272, b=10. The hypothesis that the
Hubble flow has converged to the CMB frame at distances less than ~ 100 Mpc is
ruled out at the 97% confidence level. The data are inconsistent with the flow
vector found by Lauer & Postman. However, the LP10K bulk flow is consistent
with that obtained from the SMAC survey of elliptical galaxies recently
described by Hudson et al. If correct, the LP10K results indicate that the
convergence depth for the Hubble flow is >~ 150 Mpc.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, uses emulateapj, submitted to the Astrophysical
Journal. Also available at http://astro.stanford.edu/jeff
Mass-Selection and the Evolution of the Morphology-Density Relation from z=0.8 to z=0
We examined the morphology-density relations for galaxy samples selected by
luminosity and by mass in each of five massive X-ray clusters from z=0.023 to
0.83 for 674 spectroscopically-confirmed members. Rest-frame optical colors and
visual morphologies were obtained primarily from Hubble Space Telescope images.
Morphology-density relations (MDR) are derived in each cluster from a complete,
luminosity-selected sample of 452 galaxies with a magnitude limit M_V <
M^{*}_{V} + 1. The change in the early-type fraction with redshift matches
previous work for massive clusters of galaxies. We performed a similar
analysis, deriving MDRs for complete, mass-selected samples of 441 galaxies
with a mass-limit of 10^{10.6} M_{\sun}. Our mass limit includes faint objects,
the equivalent of =~1 mag below L^{*} for the red cluster galaxies, and
encompasses =~70% of the stellar mass in cluster galaxies. The MDRs in the
mass-selected sample at densities of Sigma > 50 galaxies Mpc^{-2} are similar
to those in the luminosity-selected sample but show larger early-type
fractions. However, the trend with redshift in the fraction of elliptical and
S0 galaxies with masses > 10^{10.6} M_{\sun} differs significantly between the
mass- and luminosity-selected samples. The clear trend seen in the early-type
fraction from z=0 to z=~ 0.8 is not found in mass-selected samples. The
early-type galaxy fraction changes much less, and is consistent with being
constant at 92% +/- 4% at \Sigma> 500 galaxies Mpc^{-2} and 83 +/- 3% at 50 <
\Sigma < 500 galaxies Mpc^{-2}. This suggests that galaxies of mass lower than
> 10^{10.6} M_{\sun} play a significant role in the evolution of the early-type
fraction in luminosity-selected samples. (Abstract abridged)Comment: 18 pages in emulate ApJ format, with 10 color figures, Accepted to
ApJ. Version updated to reflect published version, includes new references
and a correction to table
Global energetic neutral atom (ENA) measurements and their association with the Dst index
We present a new global magnetospheric index that measures the intensity of the Earth\u27s ring current through energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). We have named it the Global Energetic Neutral Index (GENI), and it is derived from ENA measurements obtained by the Imaging Proton Spectrometer (IPS), part of the Comprehensive Energetic Particle and Pitch Angle Distribution (CEPPAD) experiment on the POLAR satellite. GENI provides a simple orbit-independent global sum of ENAs measured with IPS. Actual ENA measurements for the same magnetospheric state look different when seen from different points in the POLAR orbit. In addition, the instrument is sensitive to weak ion populations in the polar cap, as well as cosmic rays. We have devised a method for removing the effects of cosmic rays and weak ion fluxes, in order to produce an image of âpureâ ENA counts. We then devised a method of normalizing the ENA measurements to remove the orbital bias effect. The normalized data were then used to produce the GENI. We show, both experimentally and theoretically the approximate proportionality between the GENI and the Dst index. In addition we discuss possible implications of this relation. Owing to the high sensitivity of IPS to ENAs, we can use these data to explore the ENA/Dst relationship not only during all phases of moderate geomagnetic storms, but also during quiescent ring current periods
Charge exchange contribution to the decay of the ring current, measured by energetic neutral atoms (ENAs)
In this paper we calculate the contribution of charge exchange to the decay of the ring current. Past works have suggested that charge exchange of ring current protons is primarily responsible for the decay of the ring current during the late recovery phase, but there is still much debate about the fast decay of the early recovery phase. We use energetic neutral atom (ENA) measurements from Polar to calculate the total ENA energy escape. To get the total ENA escape we apply a forward modeling technique, and to estimate the total ring current energy escape we use the Dessler-Parker-Sckopke relationship. We find that during the late recovery phase of the March 10, 1998 storm ENAs with energies greater than 17.5 keV can account for 75% of the estimated energy loss from the ring current. During the fast recovery the measured ENAs can only account for a small portion of the total energy loss. We also find that the lifetime of the trapped ions is significantly shorter during the fast recovery phase than during the late recovery phase, suggesting that different processes are operating during the two phases
Analysis of unbounded operators and random motion
We study infinite weighted graphs with view to \textquotedblleft limits at
infinity,\textquotedblright or boundaries at infinity. Examples of such
weighted graphs arise in infinite (in practice, that means \textquotedblleft
very\textquotedblright large) networks of resistors, or in statistical
mechanics models for classical or quantum systems. But more generally our
analysis includes reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and associated operators on
them. If is some infinite set of vertices or nodes, in applications the
essential ingredient going into the definition is a reproducing kernel Hilbert
space; it measures the differences of functions on evaluated on pairs of
points in . And the Hilbert norm-squared in will represent
a suitable measure of energy. Associated unbounded operators will define a
notion or dissipation, it can be a graph Laplacian, or a more abstract
unbounded Hermitian operator defined from the reproducing kernel Hilbert space
under study. We prove that there are two closed subspaces in reproducing kernel
Hilbert space which measure quantitative notions of limits at
infinity in , one generalizes finite-energy harmonic functions in
, and the other a deficiency index of a natural operator in
associated directly with the diffusion. We establish these
results in the abstract, and we offer examples and applications. Our results
are related to, but different from, potential theoretic notions of
\textquotedblleft boundaries\textquotedblright in more standard random walk
models. Comparisons are made.Comment: 38 pages, 4 tables, 3 figure
Forming Galaxies with MOND
Beginning with a simple model for the growth of structure, I consider the
dissipationless evolution of a MOND-dominated region in an expanding Universe
by means of a spherically symmetric N-body code. I demonstrate that the final
virialized objects resemble elliptical galaxies with well-defined relationships
between the mass, radius, and velocity dispersion. These calculations suggest
that, in the context of MOND, massive elliptical galaxies may be formed early
(z > 10) as a result of monolithic dissipationless collapse. Then I reconsider
the classic argument that a galaxy of stars results from cooling and
fragmentation of a gas cloud on a time scale shorter than that of dynamical
collapse. Qualitatively, the results are similar to that of the traditional
picture; moreover, the existence, in MOND, of a density-temperature relation
for virialized, near isothermal objects as well as a mass-temperature relation
implies that there is a definite limit to the mass of a gas cloud where this
condition can be met-- an upper limit corresponding to that of presently
observed massive galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, revised in response to comments of referee. Table
added, extended discussion, accepted MNRA
Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuations of the Coma Elliptical NGC 4874 and the Value of the Hubble Constant
We have used the Keck I Telescope to measure K-band surface brightness
fluctuations (SBFs) of NGC 4874, the dominant elliptical galaxy in the Coma
cluster. We use deep HST WFPC2 optical imaging to account for the contamination
due to faint globular clusters and improved analysis techniques to derive
measurements of the SBF apparent magnitude. Using a new SBF calibration which
accounts for the dependence of K-band SBFs on the integrated color of the
stellar population, we measure a distance modulus of 34.99+/-0.21 mag (100+/-10
Mpc) for the Coma cluster. The resulting value of the Hubble constant is 71+/-8
km/s/Mpc, not including any systematic error in the HST Cepheid distance scale.Comment: ApJ Letters, in press. Uses emulateapj5.st
Mass-to-Light Ratios of Field Early-Type Galaxies at z~1 from Ultra-Deep Spectroscopy: Evidence for Mass-dependent Evolution
We present an analysis of the Fundamental Plane for a sample of 27 field
early-type galaxies in the redshift range 0.6<z<1.15. The galaxies in this
sample have high S/N spectra obtained at the VLT and high resolution imaging
from the ACS. We find that the mean evolution in M/L of our sample is , with a large galaxy-to-galaxy scatter. This value can
be too low by 0.3 due to selection effects, resulting in . The strong correlation between M/L and rest-frame color
indicates that the observed scatter is not due to measurement errors, but due
to intrinsic differences between the stellar populations of the galaxies. This
pace of evolution is much faster than the evolution of cluster galaxies.
However, we find that the measured M/L evolution strongly depends on galaxy
mass. For galaxies with masses , we find no significant
difference between the evolution of field and cluster galaxies: Delta ln (M/L_B) =
-1.12+/-0.06z$ for cluster galaxies. The relation between the measured M/L
evolution and mass is partially due to selection effects. However, even when
taking selection effects into account, we still find a relation between M/L
evolution and mass, which is most likely caused by a lower mean age and a
larger intrinsic scatter for low mass galaxies. Results from lensing early-type
galaxies, which are mass-selected, show a very similar trend with mass. This,
combined with our findings, provides evidence for down-sizing. Previous studies
of the rate of evolution of field early-type galaxies found a large range of
mutually exclusive values. We show that these differences are largely caused by
the differences between fitting methods. (Abridged)Comment: figures 3 and 4 available at
http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~vdwel/private/FPpaper
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